Paris, Texas [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) is wandering through the Texas desert, a bit shaky and in desperate need of water, when he stumbles into a bar and collapses. A German doctor of dubious credentials finds a phone number in Travis' wallet, which belongs to his brother, Walt (Dean Stockwell). Walt is shocked to hear about his brother's condition, since no one in the family has seen or heard from Travis in four years; Walt flies to Texas to bring him home, only to find Travis wandering by the side of the road, and they begin the long drive back to Los Angeles, where Walt lives with his wife, Anne (Aurore Clement), and Hunter (Hunter Carson), Travis' seven-year-old son. At first, Travis refuses to speak and is oddly distant, but in time he begins to talk again, and when he arrives in California, he begins the painful process of reacquainting himself with his son and trying to reconcile with his wife, Jane (Nastassia Kinski). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: A
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (Alternate Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Surround
• Features:
  • Audio commentary featuring Wenders
  • Video interview with Wenders by German journalist Roger Willemsen
  • Excerpts from a 1990 documentary on Wenders, featuring interviews with Wenders, cinematographer Robby Muller, composer Ry Cooper, actors Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper, Peter Falk, and Hanns Zischler, novelist Patricia Highsmith, and director Samuel Fuller
  • New video interviews with filmmakers Allison Anders and Claire Denis
  • "Wim Wenders hollywood April '84," a segment from the french television program cinema cinemas showing Wenders and Cooder at work on the score
  • Deleted scenes and super 8 home movies
  • Gallery of Wender's location-scouting photos
  • Behind-the-scenes photos by Robin Holland
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Plus-a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Nick Roddick, interviews with Stanton, writer Sam Shepard, and actors Nastassja Kinski and Dean Stockwell, and excerpts from Wender's book of photos written in the west

AWARDS

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Won Best Director - 1984 (Wim Wenders)

• Cannes Film Festival

•     Won Palme d'Or - 1984

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1984

• National Board of Review

•     Nominated Best Picture - 1984

• Sundance Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 2006

• Telluride Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1984

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Harry Dean Stanton - Travis
       Nastassja Kinski - Jane
       Dean Stockwell - Walt
       Aurore Clement - Anne
       Hunter Carson - Hunter
       Bernhard Wicki - Dr. Ulmer
       Socorro Valdez - Carmelita
       Tommy Farrell - Screaming Man
       John Lurie - Slater
       Jeni Vici - Stretch
       Claresie Mobley - Car Rental Clerk

• Director:

  Wim Wenders

• Producer:

  Anatole Dauman, Don Guest

• Screenwriter:

  L.M. Kit Carson, Sam Shepard

• Cinematographer:

  Robby Müller

• Composer (Music Score):

  Ry Cooder

• Editor:

  Peter Przygodda

• Art Director:

  Claire Denis, Kate Altman

• Associate Producer:

  Pascale Dauman

• Executive Producer:

  Chris Sievernich

• Costume Designer:

  Birgitta Bjerke

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Jean-Paul Mugel

• Makeup:

  Charles Balazs

• Sound Editor:

  Dominique Auvray

REVIEW:

• Paris, Texas may be the finest of Wim Wenders' "road movies," a deliberately paced but deeply moving story of a man at the end of his emotional rope who is given an unexpected chance to heal both his scars and those he has inflicted on others. Harry Dean Stanton gives perhaps his finest performance -- few actors could pull off a scene like the long monologue he shares with Kinski near the film's conclusion -- and he is ably supported by Stockwell and by the young Carson, son of L.M. Kit Carson, who adapted the screenplay from Sam Shepard's Motel Chronicles. Robby Muller's photography and Ry Cooder's score add immeasurably to the impact of this superlative mood piece. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi